Garage door



H. A. FlNKE GARAGE DooR Feb. 16, 1937.

Filed Sept. 11, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 16, A FlNKE GARAGE DOOR Filed Sept. l1, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H.. A. FINKE Feb. 16, 1937.

GARAGE DOOR e; Herm/4 .F

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 11. 1955 Patented Feb, 16, 19,37`

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 claims.

This invention relates to garage doors or the like and has for its object to provide a construction simple in parts and easierA of operation than those heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in View the invention resides in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts as will be disclosed more fully hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views,-

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken transversely through the closed garage doors;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the doors in open position as when the front wheels of a vehicle are passing through the door opening;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the doors in the positions occupied after the front wheels have passed through the door opening and before the rear wheels have entered the same;

Fig. 4 is a view similarV to Fig. 3 but illustrating the position of the doors when the rear wheels are passing through the door openings;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken as on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrow and illustrates the upper cable drum and governor assembly for controlling the speed of the closing doors;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating the lower cable drum, taken as on the line '6 6 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrow;A

Fig. 7 is an enlarged elevational view of the stay bracket employed for holding the doors in open position while the vehicle is passing through the door opening;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view taken as on the line 8--8 of Fig. 7 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the cable drum and governor assembly, and particularly illustrates the association with the former of a brake drum;

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view taken as on the line Illa-I0 of Fig. 9 and looking in the direction of the arrow, particularly showing the brake drum in unlocked association with the cable drum;

Fig. 11 is a view similar toFig. 10 illustrating the brake drum and cable drum locked together; and

Fig. 12 is an enlarged detail View partly in section illustrating the action of the governor.

This invention relates to garage doors of the type which are actuated by contact with the vehicle such as an automobile, the doors being moved from a closed position to an open position by driving the vehicle against the door` structure so that it is not necessary for the driver of the vehicle to get out of said vehicle to accomplish the opening and closingv of the doors. To this end the door opening (generally identified by the `numeral 2) in the wall of the garage is fitted with an upper door section 3 and a lower door section 4, one of said sections provided with a flexible rubber strip 15 5 for closing against weather the space between the horizontal meeting edges of said sections" The door opening is suitably framed as by the provision of a horizontal channel member 6 at the top, a sill 1 likewise of channel construc- 20 tion, and sides or jambs comprising vertically disposed channels such as 8.

'I'he upper door section is mounted upon 'a horizontally extending shaft such vnas' 9 which\ preferably is square and disposed adjacent the upper edge of said section,` eac-h end of said shaft fitted with a circular bushing I 0 having a rotatable bearing in the web portion of each vertical channel jamb. 'I'he lower door section is mounted upon a horizontal shaft Il disposed adjacent the lower edge of said section, said shaft also preferablyv of square cross section and similarly journaled in the door jambs.v 'Ihe purpose of providing square shafts or axles is to enable the door sections to be built upon said shafts, the faces of each section preferably being sheathed with metal plates which may readily be welded or otherwise secured to the shafts, the plates adding weight to the upper section, andv providing a metallic contact or 40 bearing surface on the lower section for ythe automobile bumpers. The lower door section may have its lowermost edge also provided with a rubber strip as shown in Fig. 1 adapted to contact the surface of the sill 'l for preventing 4 5 Aweather passing beneaththe door.

At one side ofthe door sections both shafts have mounted thereon a cable drum which may be advantageously housed within Athe space formed by the anges of the jamb 8. In other words the upper shaft 9 rigidly carries at its end the drum l5 Whose exteriorsurface is shown as helically Agrooved for the `reception of a tight continuous cable I6, one-and-one-half laps of the cable being provided on said drum. The

cable crosses itself as shown in the drawings between the upper cable drum and the cable drumv Il carried by the shaft ofthe lower door section, said lower drum being similarly grooved for frictionally receiving the cable. Obviously other arrangements could be provided for simultaneouslyl moving the two shafts in opposite directions, such as sprocket teeth on the drums I5 and I'I engaging a continuous link chain, or gears and shafting, and therefore it is not desired to be limited to any specific means for accomplishing such shaft movement. Therefore it will be understood that suitable mechanism is contemplated used, so that when the lower door section moves from the position shownin Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 2, the upper door section will simultaneously be moved from the position it occupies in Fig. 1 to the position it occupies in Fig. 2, and reversely when the lower door section moves upwardly into closed Y position, the upper door section will simultaneously move downwardly to its closed position. Here it might be stated that the upper door section is purposely made heavier than the lower door section (the differential either due to dimensional sizes, or weight) to overcome frictional resistance of the operating mechanism and insuring the lower door section being raised to closed position against the force of gravity.

The upper door section has freely pivoted thereto on each side as at I8 a downwardly extending link I9, which is disposed between the side edge of said section and the jamb 8, the lower end of said link carrying a trunnion or pin 20 adapted to engage a slotway formed in the face of a stay bracket 2l rigidly carried by' said jamb. This'slotway lis somewhat of the shape of a letter M so that when the doors are opening said pin may travel upwardly along the middle 0f the M and thence to either side thereof according to which way the doors are being opened, and thence downwardly on a side of the M duringlthe door closing, the slotway being continuous or open across the bottom of the stay bracket so that said pin may reach a point at the lower o extremity of the middle of the M when the doors -of the grooves wherefore the pin 20 must vthereafter move to one side or the other of said point, and the sidewise direction which the pin then takes is controlled in accordance with the inward or `outward opening of the door sections,

this being made possibleby the free pivot I8.

From Fig. 2 it will thereforeA be seen that since this pivot is spaced from the axis of the shaft 9, said pivot' will be swung inwardly when the upper door section moves from closed position to its open position within the garage, and therefore the link I9 freely supported by said pivot will have a tendency to likewise move inwardly of the garage resulting in' the pin 20 moving to the leftof the point 25 as seen in said Figures 2 and '7.

In Fig. 1 the front wheels of an automobile are indicated by the arrow as moving in a direction to contact the lower door Section 4, and

ing this movement the upper door section will simultaneouslyv move inwardly of the garage, both door sections ultimately assuming the positions shown in Fig. 2 with the front wheels of the automobile resting upon the substantially flat opened lower door section. Continued movement of the automobile into the garage causes the front wheels to roll off the lower door section leavingV no vehicle weight upon said section wherefore it might be ordinarily expected that said section would then move upwardly in a closing movement and possibly become jammed beneath the vehicle or cause damage to some underneath portion of the vehicle.

However, provision is made in the stay bracket 2| and link I9 to prevent any appreciable reverse movement of the lower door section wherefore the door sections will remain in the positions shown in Fig. 3 to permit the rear wheels of the automobile to ride over the lower doorl section, or if necessary to permit a reverse movement of the automobile in a direction out of the garage, permitting the front wheels tor ride over said section. Finally when the automobile has completely passed in one direction or the other over the lower door section then both door sections are permitted to move to their closed position.

'Ihis closing is accomplished through the particular construction of the upperfportions of the slotway in the stay bracket and which is clearly shown in Fig. '7. As hereinbefore stated when the front wheels have passed through the door opening into the garage and are resting upon the lower door section as seen in Fig. 2, the pin 20 of the link I9 will have moved upwardly through the portion 22 of the slotway and been deflected to the left of the point 25 but will have encountered the stop shoulder 26 formed on the upper edge of said slotway so that further movement of the pin 20 to the left is temporarily stayed. When the front wheels roll oif the lower door section there is no vehicle weight upon said section and therefore it has the tendency to rise due to the overbalancing weight of the upper door section, and as soon as the upper section starts moving downwardly the pin 20 of the freely pivoted link I9 likewise movesdownwardly but almost immediately encounters and comes to rest in a concave portion 21 of the island 23 which v in effect is a pocket, and then the weight of the upper door section is supported by vsaid link and said pocket whereupon further downward movement of said section is prevented, see Fig. 3.

The lower door section is then beneath the automobile intermediate the front wheels and the pass over said section, and when this occurs the weight of the automobile pushes the lower door section downwardly from the position shown in Fig. 3 which simultaneously causes an upward rotational movement of the upper door section suiiicient to raise the pin 20 out of the pocket 21 and to permit its swing again to the left as seen in Fig. 7 around the shoulder 26 to reach the upper extremity of the extreme side passge-way 28 of the stay bracket.

Then, when the weight of the automobile has been removed from the lower door section, the

weight of the upper door section causes both sections to rotatably move to their closed position, during which movement the pin is free to move downwardly in the passageway 26 and ultimately assume the position shown in Fig. 'l when the doors are closed. Obviously when an automobile in the garage is moved outwardly thereofa reversal of the foregoing operations takes place, the door sections moving outwardly with the pin 20 travelling to the right of the point 25 as seen in Fig. 7 through the slotway of the stay bracket, both vsides of said slotway being symmetrically formed. It may be found convenient to provide the pin `2|! with an enlarged head as shown in Fig. 8 in which case the slotway in the stay bracket will be undercut for appropriately receiving the headed pin and preventing disengagement between the pin and slotway during operative movement of the former.

To preventl closing of the doors too rapidly there is provided a brake drum and governor mechanism to delay the movement of the doors into closed position, this construction being best illustrated in Figs. 9 to 12. As hereinbefore stated the upper shaft 9 has rigidly mounted thereon the cable drum I5 which is hollowed out circularly on one side to receive therein the annular-harige of the brake drum generally indicated by the numeral 36,1 which latter on its periphery is toothed to form a gear identied by the vnumeral 31.- This brake drum is loosely mounted upon the hub 38 of the cable drum. The inner fac'e of the cable drum has pivoted thereto as at 39 .a bell crankl 40 having at one end the weight 4|, the other end of the crank being v,slotted to4 freely receive therein the pin 42 of av dog 43 adapted'to wedgingly fit the space between` the inner curved surface yof the flange 35 of the brake drum and a lug 44 rigidly carried by the cable drum. the parts 40, 4I, 42. 43, and 44 constituting a means for locking the brake drum to the cable drum.

In'Flg. 10 these parts are shown inthe positions occupied when the doors are in closed position, but when the upper door section is moved outwardly with respect to the garage the shaft 9 will turn' in the direction of 'the arrow, causing the cable drum to turn likewise and when this occurs the pivot 39 will move downwardly into the position shown in Fig. 11, and cause the weight 4l to pass from a position to the'right of the vertical plane passing through said pivot to a position to the left thereof, resulting in forcing the dog 43 into wedgingposition between the flange 35 and the lug 44 to lock the 'brake drum and cable drum together. In other Words the upper door section moves a quarter revolution from closed to open position and its cable drum moves a corresponding angular amount and the pivot 39 is positioned so that when it moves with the cablev drum the weight 4I will flop from one side to, the other side of the rvertical plane passing'through said pivot with suiiicient force to causef'a positive locking of said drums.

A duplication of the parts 39, 46, 4|, 42, 43, 44 is provided as at 45, 46, 41, 46, 49 and 50 on the other side of the vertical planerpassing through the shaft 9 as seen in Fig. 10, to operate as a lock between the two drums when the upper door section is moved reversely or inwardly of the garage, but as`clearly seen from Figs. 10 and 11 only one dog will cause the eiective locking of the drums. according to which way the doors are opened, and said locking occurs only just prior to the said section assuming its full open position.

The gear 31 is meshed with a pinion 55 carried by a sleeve 56 freely mounted upon a long pin or short shaft 51 secured to a bracket generally indicated by the numeral 58 which bracket is secured to a flange of the jamb 8, said pinion operating through a slot cut in said ange. For convenience the pin 51 may be threaded tightly into said bracket as shown in Fig. 9 with a spacing washer 59 disposed between the threaded engagement with said bracket and a side of said pinion,

the opposite end of said pin having an enlarged head 66 providing a surface 6I see Fig. l2 against which braking action may be had by the gov-w ernor.

When the doors start moving from their opened position to their closed position the brake and cable drums will be locked together as hereinabove described but still they might close too quickly if the braking action of a governor were not provided. Therefore two diametrically disposed ears such as 62 and 63 are formed upon the sleeve 58 and have freely pivoted to. each a metallic segment v`64 to which is rigidly attached an arm 65 at the outer extremity of which is secured a governor Vball or Weight 66. The disposition of the segments 64 is such that in the closing movement of the upper door section the two locked drums will rotate together causing rotation of the pinion and sleeve 56 but this movement causes the governor balls 66 to move under centrifugal action from their full line positions to the dotted line positions shown in Fig. 9 and this causes a turning movement of the segments 64 to bring a surface thereof into frictional engagement and braking eiect against the surface 6| of the head 60 of the pin 51, thereby slowing down the closing movement of the doors.

As the upper door section nears its, closed position the weight 4| of the bell crank 40 will flop tothe other side of the vertical plane passing through the pivot 39 and unseat the dog 43,

thereby unlocking the brake and cable drums, but said section is so nearly closed that this unlocking of the drums will cause no damaging slam -but"'rather will prove of benefit in that it will permit a suicient final impetus to overcome the small friction at closing between the rubber strip 5 and the edge of the lower door section The method of controlling the rise and fall of the doors, may be altered to employ self-rocking cradles, elliptical spur-gears, with cam-stops and catches; scroll-gears or other acceptable means for transferring and transmitting reciprocal motion into semi-rotary or rotary motion with cam-checks and stops to suit the purpose of the inventionr-(as a mangel Wheel action).

It is'obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction as well as arrangements of parts Without departingv from the spirit; of this invention, and therefore it is desired not to be limited to the exact foregoing dis7 closure except as may be required by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An automobile garage door comprising a plurality of sections, connections between said sections such that all of said sections willv be moved to open position when one of said sections is turned by contact with a moving automobile. said connections including a cable drum mounted upon the axis of each door section and a condrum concentrically but loosely` mounted upon one of the cable drums, portions of the concentric drums vhaving `eccentric relation therebetween, governor mechanismoperable by the brake drum, and a slidable wedge for automatically locking said .brake drum to its associated cable drum just prior to said sections assuming their full opened positions.

' A2. In an automobile garage door the combination of two separate door sections; a horizontal shaft xed to each section and journalled in the door jambs; a cable drum mounted upon each shaft one of saidY drums provided with a hub; a continuous cable frictionally engaging said drums for imparting simultaneous movement thereto when one of said sections is moved; a brake ,drum loosely mounted upon the cable drum hub; means for automatically locking said brake drum to its supporting cable drum just prior to said' sections assuming their full opened positions; and means operable by the brake drum for slowing the closing movement of said sections,

said last named 'means becoming inoperative just prior to said sections assuming their closed positions by the reverse movement of said first named means.

3. In' an automobile garage door the combina-I tion of two separate door sections; a horizontal shaft fixed to each section and journalled in the door jambs; a cable drum mounted upon each shaft one of said drums provided with a hub; a

,continuous cable frictionally engaging said means becoming inoperative just prior to'saidv sections assuming their closed positions by the reverse movement of said first named means.

4. In an automobile garage door the combination of two separate door sections; a horizontal 'shaft xed to each section and journalled in the door jambs; a cable drum mounted upon each shaft one of said drums provided with a hub; a continuous cable frictionally engaging said drums for imparting simultaneous movement thereto when one of said sections is moved; a brake drum loosely mounted upon the cable drum hub; means comprising a gravity actuated slidable wedge for automatically locking said brake drum to its supporting vcable drum just prior to said sections assuming their full opened positions; and means operated by the brake drum for slowing the closing movement of said sections, said last named means becoming inoperative just prior to said sections assuming their closed positions by the reverse movement of said first named means.

5. In an automobile garage door the combination of two separate door sections; a horizontal shaft fixed to each section and journalled in the door jambs; a cable drum mounted upon each shaft one of said drums provided with a hub; a continuous cable frictionally engaging said drums drums.

for imparting simultaneous movement thereto when one of said sections is moved; a brake drum loosely mounted upon the cable drum hub; means for automatically locking said brake drum to its supporting c able drum just prior to said sections assuming their full opened positions; and means comprising a governor actuated clutch operated by the brake drum for slowing the closing movement of said sections, said last named means becoming inoperative just prior to said sections assuming their closed positions by the automatic reverse movement of said first named means.

6. In'a self-closing door construction the cornbination with a door ofy a pair of drums, one drum operatively connected to the door and provided with a hub, the other drum loosely mounted upon said hub and operatively connected with means for rbraking the closing movement of the door, said drums having cooperating eccentric portions; and means carried by one of said drums and slidably engaging saideccentric portions for automatically locking said drums together just prior to the door assuming its full open position.

'7. In a self-closing door construction the combination with a door of a pair of drums, one drum operatively connected to the door and provided with a. hub, the other drum loosely mounted upon said hub and operatively connected with means for braking the closing movement of the door, saiddrums having-cooperating eccentric portions; andl means carried by one of said drums and slidably engaging said eccentric portions for automatically locking said drums together just prior to the door assuming its f ull open position, said means automatically moved in a reverse direction just prior to the door assuming its closed position to disengage said eccentric portions and unlock said drums.

8. In a self-closing door construction the combination with a door of a pair of drums, one drum operatively connected to the door and provided with a hub, the other drum loosely mounted upon said hub and operatively connected with means for braking the closing movement of the door, said drums having cooperating eccentric portions; and means comprising a weighted wedge pivotally carried by one of said drums and slidably engaging said eccentric portionsJor automatically locking said drums together just prior to the door assuming its full open position.

9. In a self-closing door construction the combination with a door of a pair of drums, one drum operatively connected to the door and provided witha hub, the other drum loosely mounted upon said hub and operatively connected with means for braking the closing movement of the door,

' said drums having cooperating eccentric portions;

and means comprising a weightedwedge pivotally carried by one of said drums and slidably engaging saideccentric portions for automatically locking said drums together just prior to the door assuming its full open position, said means automatically moved in a reverse direction by the shifting of the weighted portion of the wedge just prior to the door assuming its closed position to disengage said eccentric portions and 'unlock said HERMAN A. FINKE. 

